The never ending card!

Okay, so it's been ions since I have crafted a card, and you can tell! Ha ha! I have been so busy with work and kids and activities, that I can't find a spare moment. That said, I finally found a few HOURS to make ONE card....how sad is that! Seems like the longer you stay away from this stuff, the longer it takes to make one....you want to make it perfect, AND use all your cool stuff!

So this card I wanted a Halloween card, and I had been thinking about this for awhile. I like the idea of interjecting the turquoise into this color scheme, it just makes it different.

So I started with my Cuttlebug and my Spellbinders Nestabilities. I embossed the center of the card. I used a pre-cut and scored cardstock from Papertreyink, and it just turned out so nice with little effort. Those Nestabilities are awesome, and if you don't have any, I would encourage you trying one set. They seem to fill in where the punches leave off, plus I LOVE the embossing capabilities.

I then cut a piece of computer paper out to a 4.25 x 5.5 piece, and then ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Nestabilities to remove the center rectangle. I used that to MASK off the area that I didn't want my Cheesecloth Stamp to print on.

Once that was done, I painted the outside of the embossed frame with my Certainly Celery marker, and then lightly ran my Versamark Marker over it and embossed it with Silver. I didn't want a heavy coat of the Silver Embossing because I wanted to see the green underneath.

I stamped the witch in White Craft on Black paper first, and cut it out. I didn't really define the edges that much, I really just left it more as a outline of the image. Then I stamped the Witch again, and colored it in. That's when it happened.... I went Silver Stickles crazy.... eeeeek!

I needed some bling, so I just added it where it fit. I also used a white gel pen in her eyes, and dress, and broom just to jazz it up a bit and give some more dimension. I cut out the image, this time paying closer attention to the the image, and cutting more away. The idea was to create a shadow. I used StampinUp Dimensionals to give the depth to the two pieces.

Initially I had cut out and embossed the circular moon, but it just didn't look right, so I used my StampinUp punch 1 3/8 to cut the circle out, then used my Stampin Pastels to color the Moon! I blended 3 different colors to get the look. I used one of the sponge applicators to move the Silver Stickles around, I just wanted a little shimmer on the moon.

Before applying the witch and shadow and moon, I went back to my embossed cardstock and used the Stickles in the "ditch" of the embossed frame, to add some glitz, and also dimension. Stickles!

I then decided that some funky circles would be nice on the outside, so I pulled out my Green Thumb set from Papertreyink, and used several circles stamped around the edges. I didn't want the interior stamped, so I just used a scrap to cover and mask the interior of the square when I got close to the edge, and that worked out okay. It still needed something else, so I went back in with the circular piece from PRICELESS from StampinUp. Yet it STILL needed something.... wait for it.... wait for it... YES! STICKLES! See what I mean about that never ending card thing?! So I just went back again, and filled in the circles with some Silver Stickles.

I then cut a rectangle piece with my Marvy Super punch, and stamped "spooky" on a piece of white cardstock. I have always thought that "ransom note" look would be fun to try, so here is my attempt. I just used markers to color where I wanted, stamped the image from the Papertreyink set, and then cut it apart. I used some black eyelets to attach the ribbon to the tag, and attached it to the card. I guess you could say it's "spooky" with all that SticKles! haha. Enjoy, I sure did while I was making it. Man I need to get back in the cave and be creative!

Meet CHEETO!

Okay, so I have been out of it soooo long. I have created nothing..... what can I do with nothing! I promise to have something here soon, perhaps this weekend, well maybe not.. we have paper routes to deliver this weekend... not gonna lie it's not my most favorite time, except for the fact that it traps my teenager in the car with me for several hours with nothing to do but talk.... so I guess that's a good thing! Ha! We also have a new puppy! YEAH! Like I need another dog, but this one was too cute to ignore. Her name is Cheeto, and she is a 4 month old pug. She is a little terror! She has two speeds, Tornado and dead! She is just a crazy girl, and we love her so much. Weenie our male pug is protective of her, and biscuit our Westie, well let's just say she is NOT so thrilled. So we are working on adjusting that and making sure everyone gets lots and lots of hugs. So here are a couple of photo's I just took.... what a face...what's not to love!
The family that had Cheeto and named her Cheeto Bandito....hahha! were ALL allergic to her! Can you imagine? So we rescued her..... wink wink! It's a dirty job but someone had to do it right? This is my birthday present, and actually she has become my husband's dog in a way. She ADORES him. We love her.. and the kids are getting lots of laughs.. actually we all are! EVERYTHING is a chew toy for her, paper, hair, pillows, furniture, plastic, stuffing carefully removed from stuffed toys.... you name it... she can chew it! She also has the funniest bark, it sounds like a cat being run over! Her favorite thing to do is to sit on top of the ottoman or couch and smack Biscuit over the head then run off! Maybe that would explain why Biscuit is less than loving this. She has also figured out how to run through certain places in the picket fence to the next door neighbor's house. They have two little girls and magically the exit from their yard is usually blocked by a beach ball once Cheeto "wanders" over to their side! Cheeto runs in circles and the little girls follow her. Needless to say it poops her out for awhile.

New Papertreyink Forum

Hey all you papertrey fans..... Nichole and her crew have a new forum! It will be the place when she has her new release coming up. You can post comments and start threads etc. Looks kind of fun... I'm game!

Here's the link:

http://papertreyink.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

Easy Please!

So I needed a stack of cards quick, and had favorited this card from Inglishrea to change up in honor of her Featured Stamper :

DTGD BEate Sketch Card

Yeah, I am a little late making the deadline.... but it's the thought. I really like this new set True Friend, so many possibilities, and I combined it with Papertreyink Borders and Corners to make it more interesting. I used a very small teardrop shaped piece, not sure which Borders and Corners set...oops, to trim out the scallop, then stamped over it with the larger circle image. It was a goof originally, but I like how it turned out. I am not a big fan of Cranberry Crisp, really tried to embrace last years IN colors, and honestly, they were OUT for me.... just never really liked them. But Cranberry really worked with the DP I had and it used up some of my ribbon. Honestly, I really like this color combo and will use it again. It looks very ethnic and I like that it is a bit unusual, or unexpected from what I usually do.

It went together quickly, and I will use the layout again!

Farewell Beautiful Friend

This card was for a personal friend who passed away last week. He started the company I work for .... J.T. Posey Company truely from the back of his car. A wonderful character and a very warm spirited man. I am proud to work for his company, and have gotten to know him. In this day and age, it's hard to find a company that is still family owned and operated. His son Ernie is alot like his dad, and has done so much to not only grow the business, but maintain the quality and integrity his Dad built.

It is a little feminine, but as I mentioned, the company logo is a Posey flower, and I just thought it fit. The company colors are also green, and adding just a little of that back in really seemed to work. I used the Nestabilities I just got a few hours ago from Papertreyink.com and really had a good time playing with them. It did take a few minutes to figure out the "sandwich" you have to build. In case you haven't seen it on Nichole Heady's blog here it is...

Cutting Sandwich for a Cuttlebug... because that's what I used:

plate A

plate C

die with the ridged side facing up

paper/cardstock

plate B

Embossing Sandwich:

plate A

plate B

die with ridged side up

beige mat from Spellbinders

3 pieces of cardstock

plate B

I really like these things, and I think I will find alot of versatility in using them. I embossed the so saffron layer, and you can barely see the edge of it, kind of looks like I embossed a circle there. I also embossed the olive piece. Once you cut it, you just remove the excess, change your sandwich around and emboss it. It really is that easy....

I used the Linen background stamp from SU on the river rock, and then stamped my flower image. I love those little velvet flowers from Maya Road, purchased from Papertreyink.... they have everything! The sentiment is also from the new release from Papertrey... beautiful flowers or at least I think that's what it's called. The pearl finished off the flower, and I bought them from target... KC and company. Tres Chic was stamped in the background, and I just love how several of the words really fit this card and what I was trying to convey. Hope Ernie and his family like it!

Road Kill

I feel like roadkill! SEriously! I have been so out of it for the last several weeks, seems like I just can't get it together. Got sick, and that has just about wiped me out for 2 weeks now. So I never uploaded a photo that I promised details for, and after reading my description on SCS about it, people must be so confused, not that anyone is even looking at my site, but jeez, I could at least get it updated.

So here is the card that I did last. I really like the look of Vellum over a card, but have a hard time using it for some reason. I was working on a sketch challenge from Genie 1314 and cut a scallop circle out of the wasabi cardstock. You can't see it because I covered that cut with the black cardstock. I then placed a piece of the floral cardstock behind that cutout, and then glued the black background to the front of the card, that way it covered the circle cutout on the interior, and the floral cardstock circle I had glued to it. Make sense? I embossed the wasabi scalloped circle with the cuttlebug template I just got, and then dry embossed a piece of vellum using the metal bodacious bouquet template that I had. I had the green brad leftover and thought it would add such a nice touch. I also used eyelets in the corner to finish it off. I don't really like the placement of my words on the vellum, but hey, I guess you can't have everything. So here is the interior of the card

It does look like I just glued a piece of the patterned paper to the inside, but I didn't really, it was cut first with the scallop punch on the green cardstock, then the DP placed behind it. I love how that little bird is just hanging out. So there it is, my only card AND post in weeks. I need to get to the creative cave and get busy. I have all my new stamps from Papertreyink to play with and the new release is next week. I also think my Nestabilities have been shipped, so I cannot wait to play with those!

I don't know about you......

But getting things done around here has turned into total chaos! With 2 kids in school, and starting a diet... ugh!, my life is crazy! I wonder what I was thinking signing up for a swap! At any rate, I FINALLY got mine out, and hopefully they arrived. For this card the challenge was to use only Papertreyink stamps. I used 3 sets, Greenthumb, Faux Ribbon, and Borders and Corners.

Unfortunately the pic is so dark, you really cannot see that I stamped my image in Wild wasabi, then went back over it with a Versamark marker. I then clear embossed it. After that I stamped the peas, and then dry embossed them to pop them up and give some texture. If you are like me, you don't own a light box, so I got out my paper piercing pad, and then outlined the peas and rubbed over the interior area with my embossing stylus. Flipping the card over, I could see the outline of the pea, and again embossed the interior area. The white stock is not the best, it's so thin, but I still got a nice popped up look to add dimension.

After the peas were dry embossed, I used two way glue to add some DAZZLE with dazzling diamonds. The scallop at the top in apricot has a dry embossed small dot in the curve. I used my Crop-o-dile to achieve that,... and may I say that is a quick thing to use and add some extra texture. You just set the cropodile on A1 and the smaller eyelet piece, and it works great! Give it a try, it's so fun.

The ribbon is tied and glued on with glue dots, and I added the little safety pin to it to tie it into the theme.

I love how bright and cheerful this card is, hope the other ladies agree!